Ecclesiastes 1:1-18

Depression is one of the most common afflictions on the world in which we live.  We are surrounded by hopelessness and an overall sense of futility.  The book of Ecclesiastes is a divine inspired look into the mind of the depressed.  Solomon was a man with everything.  He had power, money, intelligence, and women and was probably even handsome and athletic.  The world was at his fingertips.  Even so, Solomon found himself depressed.  Solomon has been “looking for love in all the wrong places” and has come up empty and depressed.  I believe at the time that he writes this that he has finally come back to his senses and so he writes about his exercise in futility in order to help other avoid the depths of despair to which he had fallen.  As we look into this hurting heart we can find help and hope.

LIFE CAN PUT US IN A VICIOUS CYCLE: I have recently taken to running on treadmills.  No, I am not insane.  I hate it.  The only reason I do it is because my body hurts way too much when I run on pavement or gravel and being able to watch TV while I try to burn calories almost makes it tolerable.  However, after I have put in my four miles on the treadmill I find myself in the exact same place as were I started except for I am hopefully a few ounces lighter.  But then one cheeseburger later those ounces go right back on my belly and I am back to “treadmilling” again.  This is Solomon’s point as he starts out this book; our lives can become a vicious cycle of doing the same things over and over again but getting nowhere.  No matter what we pursue in life, whether it be power, pleasure or possessions; we will never find satisfaction even if we are very successful in these pursuits.  We were created to worship God and will only find purpose in our lives when we are fulfilling that purpose and calling.  Everything else is futility and will lead to depression.

LEARNING CAN MAKE US VERY CYNICAL: Psychology is dedicated to the study of human behavior and emotion.  Man has a non-physical part to him that has a great influence over who we are, how we feel and what we ultimately choose to do with our lives.  Solomon, in today’s language, set out to become the world’s greatest psychologist.  He set out to study the behavior of men and to understand the human heart.  The deeper he dug into the heart of man the darker things became.  What he found in his study of man was despair and hopelessness.  He found that the sinfulness of man’s heart was beyond repair with an infinite number of needs that could not even be counted much less named.  The more he learned about man and himself the more depressed he became.  If we are going to study the heart of man for the sake of study Solomon says that we are better off not knowing.  Fortunately the solution for the heart of man is not found within man.  God has provided through the cross of Christ a means by which the sin of man can be forgiven and the heart of man can be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.  Apart from Jesus there is no hope for the heart of man.